The president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, he was jailed for inciting protests by using social networking sites.

Rajab, 48, is a fierce critic of the Bahraini authorities and led anti-government protests which erupted in March 2011.

He was charged but later acquitted of libelling the town of Muharraq, after tweeting that the prime minister should step down, and that Muharraq residents had only welcomed him during a visit there because he had offered them subsidies.